Odetics Inc.'s stock rose 10% Monday, the first trading session after the Anaheim provider of computer storage equipment said it will receive $100 million in settling its lengthy patent-infringement lawsuit against a competitor, Storage Technology Corp., in Louisville, Colo. Odetics' stock rose $1.13 to $12.25 a share in Nasdaq trading. Storage Technology's stock closed at $20.06 a share, down 63 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.

Anaheim-based Odetics Inc. will receive $100 million as a settlement of a 4-year-old patent infringement lawsuit against a competitor, the company said Friday. The agreement calls for Louisville, Colo.-based Storage Technology Corp. to pay Odetics $80 million immediately, plus $10 million each year for the next two years, and settles all outstanding patent litigation between the two companies. "We're very pleased with this," said Gregory Miner, Odetics' chief financial officer.

Odetics Inc. named a new president and chief executive officer Friday to head a subsidiary that the Anaheim-based supplier of communication equipment has considered spinning off. Peter Strom, formerly vice president of sales for the unit, Gyyr Inc., assumes his new executive role there immediately. He replaces Frank Borst, who resigned to pursue other interests, the company said. Gyyr makes television security systems for the banking and retail industries.

Odetics Inc. is to receive $70.6 million in damages from a rival seller of data-storage equipment after a federal appeals court reinstated a jury's award in a patent dispute. A jury last year found that Storage Technology Corp. of Louisville, Colo., the No. 1 maker of corporate computer tape-storage systems, infringed an Odetics patent related to data storage in network computing. The verdict was reversed by a federal judge in Virginia, but a higher court reinstated the award Tuesday.

Odetics Inc.: The Anaheim supplier of communications equipment said it lost $6.9 million, or 78 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a net loss of $7.2 million, or 99 cents a share, for the like period last year. Revenue for the quarter ended March 31 declined 3% to $21.3 million from $22 million. For the year, the company posted a loss of $20.1 million, or $2.57 a share. For the prior year, the net loss was $6.6 million, or 95 cents a share, which included $2.

Anaheim-based Odetics Inc. said Tuesday it has taken preliminary steps toward spinning off two subsidiaries in addition to a previously announced divestiture. Odetics said it has asked the Internal Revenue Service for a ruling whether the spinoffs would be tax-free. The company, which previously announced plans to shed its ITS Inc. subsidiary, is now seeking IRS tax rulings for possible spinoffs of its Gyyr Inc. and Odetics Broadcast divisions.

Odetics Inc. said its Odetics ITS intelligent transportation system subsidiary has been named the prime contractor to provide technical support to the Virginia Department of Transportation for setting up a statewide system to manage traffic and provide information to travelers. The three-year contract is worth $6 million but has two one-year options that could boost the total value to $10 million, Anaheim-based Odetics said.

January 21, 1999 | SEBASTIAN EDWARDS, Sebastian Edwards, a professor at UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management, was the World Bank's chief economist for Latin America from 1993 to 1996

The much-awaited Brazilian crisis is finally here. As many analysts predicted, Brazil's runaway fiscal deficit--at 8% of gross domestic product--undermined the country's rigid exchange rate policy. The hemorrhage of international reserves finally forced Brazil on Friday to float its currency, the real. Since then, the real has lost almost one-third of its value. Not even a gigantic IMF support package exceeding $41 billion could prevent the fall.

Anaheim-based Odetics Inc. said Monday it is raising about $10 million through private stock sales. The communications equipment supplier already has sold $8 million worth of the stock to "a small group of accredited investors" and plans to raise $2 million from eight of the company's directors and officers. The private placement involves a total of 1.5 million shares priced at $6.625 per share and is being managed by Cruttenden Roth Inc. of Irvine.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Anaheim-based Odetics Inc. said it has completed the acquisition of San Francisco-based transportation and traffic engineering firm Meyer, Mohaddes Associates Inc. Odetics issued 55,000 shares of its common stock and 485,000 shares of stock in its subsidiary, Odetics ITS Inc., to complete the transaction. The subsidiary specializes in developing communication technology for roadways and transportation infrastructure.